Returning to the grid under Renault power and with two rookies at the helm, Scuderia Toro Rosso aims to finish the 2015 Formula One World Championship in fifth place with the new STR10, revealed at the first test session of the season in Spain.

Dietrich Mateschitz, an Austrian billionaire and the man behind the all-encompassing Red Bull brand, had some stern words for Formula One during an interview with an Austrian newspaper. Vienna's Kurier asked what it would take for Red Bull to pull out of F1. Mateschitz's answer was tinged with frustration following the disqualification of Daniel Riccardo, who finished second in last weekend's Australian Grand Prix, but saw his results stripped after the FIA stewards claimed that the rate of fuel

Toro Rosso's STR8 Formula One car has gone backward in order to go forward. The team had been trying to optimize a 'double floor' sidepod design for the last couple of seasons but never got it where they wanted it – the team finished eighth in the Constructor's Championship in 2011, ninth in 2012. Chief Designer Luca Furbatto went back to a more traditional sidepod design with the STR8, and additionally worked on areas of weight distribution, redesigning the rear end to be more compact, de

With the first test session of the season now under way in Jerez, Spain, the remaining teams – that is, at least, the ones that have their cars ready – are presenting their new designs for the 2012 Formula One World Championship. The latest among them: Scuderia Toro Rosso.

Many eyebrows were raised when Red Bull jumped from sponsoring existing F1 teams to buying its own 2005, but then the energy-drink giant surprised the pundits again by buying an unprecedented second team in 2006. So why'd they do it? To give the aspiring talents, which the outfit nurtures through its extensive young driver development program, a leg up into the pinnacle of motorsport.

The word "slow" doesn't often factor into F1 racing, where everything moves fast. The cars move fast, the pit crews have to move fast, even the cameras have to move fast to keep up with the action. But lately things have been slowing down. Not because of restrictions on performance, which at best manage to hold back the tides temporarily as technology outpaces legislation, but with the use of new camera technology.

The rules of text messaging seem to keep on sliding to the point where what was once unacceptable is now common practice - but there's got to be a line drawn somewhere. Take Sebastien Bourdais, for example, who claims that he was fired via SMS.

Sour grapes much? Both of Italy's Formula One teams had to switch drivers mid-season during the year: Scuderia Toro Rosso (because Sebastien Bourdais wasn't working out) and Scuderia Ferrari (due to Felipe Massa injury). However, due to the comprehensive ban on in-season testing, neither could put their replacements into the cockpits of their F1 cars until the following grand prix weekend. So STR's newcomer Jaime Alguersuari was thrown straight into the deep end to sink or swim, while Ferrari, f

Those who bemoan modern Formula One settling its rivalries in the courtroom instead of on the race track have another set of examples to bring up at the pub as news emerges of the settlement of two lawsuits related to the top-tier racing series have emerged over the course of the weekend.

Legal

We get it. Ads are annoying. Ads are how we keep the garage doors open and the lights on here at Autoblog - and keep our stories free for you and for everyone. And free is good, right? If you'd be so kind as to whitelist our site, we promise to keep bringing you great content. Thanks for that. And thanks for reading Autoblog.

Here's how to disable adblocking on our site.

Click on the icon for your Adblocker in your browser. A drop down menu will appear.

Select the option to run ads for autoblog.com, by clicking either "turn off for this site", "don't run on pages on this domain", "whitelist this site" or similar. The exact text will differ depending on the actual application you have running.